How Titanic sub-victims spent last hours on doomed OceanGate expedition revealed

OceanGate boss flew to Britain to convince a British-Pakistani billionaire and his family it would be safe to travel to the wreckage of the Titanic in his mini-submarine despite concerns about its safety, it was revealed today.

American CEO Stockton Rush and his wife Wendy flew to London in February and met Shahzada Dawood, his wife Christine and 19-year-old Suleman at a cafe near Waterloo.

In an extraordinary and poignant interview with the New York TimesMs Dawood described how she and daughter Alina, 17, were aboard the Titan’s mother ship, Polar Prince, waving Shahzada and Suleman set out for the doomed adventure that fell on Father’s Day weekend.

But she also revealed that a meeting had been held three months earlier to reassure the Dawoods ahead of the $250,000-per-capita trip, at a location convenient for them. Mr. Rush, who believed that going to the depths of the Atlantic in the Titan was “safer than crossing the street,” spoke to them about the submarine’s design and safety.

Ms. Dawood said, “We just had no idea on that technical side. I mean, you’re on an airplane without knowing how the engine works.’

12 weeks later, the British family headed by Mr. Dawood, an heir to one of Pakistan’s most successful business dynasties, set off on their journey. And Ms. Dawood has revealed that they almost missed the trip.

They flew to Toronto on 14 June, but their flight to St John’s to join the expedition was cancelled, so they had an extra day to explore the city. Their flight the next day was subsequently delayed and they feared they might not make it to the Titan at all.

“We were actually quite concerned, like, oh my god, what if they cancel that flight too? In hindsight, of course I wish they did,” said Ms Dawood.

The mother of two has the passengers aboard the doomed Titan submarine – including her husband and only son – spent their last moments before it imploded listening to music in total darkness to conserve energy, watching bioluminescent creatures in the depths, the woman has revealed by a victim.

They began their dive to the wreckage of the Titanic on June 18 at 8:00 am. One hour and 45 minutes after the dive, at 09:45, contact was lost.

It is now known that the US Navy recorded the sound of an implosion at that time. Five days later, debris from the submarine was found on the seabed 500 meters from the Titanic.

Those on board – the CEO of the company behind the expedition, Stockton Rush, 61; French Titanic expert PH Nargeolet, 77; 58-year-old British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding; and father and son Shahzada Dawood, 48, and Suleman Dawood, 19 – were likely killed instantly, with no idea what was going on.

Ms. Dawood said they arrived on the mother ship in the middle of the night of June 15 in the harbor of St. John’s, Newfoundland and headed for the dive site.

She said there were briefings at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. with science talks and discussions about the wreck and the expedition.

Those preparing to make the descent were told to wear thick socks and a hat as it could get cold at the depth, and to adhere to a “low-residue diet” the day before the dive , without coffee one morning.

There was no toilet on board, only a bottle or camping toilet behind a curtain.

The passengers were told to load their favorite music onto their phones and play it through a Bluetooth speaker – even though Rush banned country music.

He also warned them that the descent would be in pitch darkness because the headlights were turned off to save battery power for when they reached the sea floor.

However, they were told that they would likely see bioluminescent creatures.

Christine Dawood said her husband was so excited he was “like a shaking toddler” leading up to the trip.

She said they became fascinated with the Titanic after visiting an exhibition in Singapore in 2012, the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking.

In 2019, the family visited Greenland and were intrigued by the glaciers that encased themselves in icebergs.

She found an ad for OceanGate and originally planned to take the trip with her husband.

However, their trip was delayed due to the pandemic, and by the time they could make it, Suleman was old enough to go instead of them.

The teen took a Rubik’s Cube with him, hoping to complete the underwater world record.

She said Rush and his wife Wendy traveled to London – where they lived – to update them on the trip, but the technical aspect remained unclear.

“That technical side, we just had no idea,” she told The New York Times.

“I mean, you’re on an airplane without knowing how the engine works.”

But she said they got swept up in the idea of ​​the adventure.

Christine Dawood said her husband recorded the onboard stories of Nargeolet, one of the world’s leading Titanic experts, who was one of the dead.

She said the Frenchman gave a presentation about his 37 previous dives to the Titanic and told the group a story about how he was “stuck there for three days and the submarine lost communication.”

She said her husband turned to her and said, “Oh my God, this is so cool.”

She added: “He licked everything up. He had a big glow on his face talking about all that nerdy stuff.”

On the morning of June 18, passengers were required to be on deck by 5 a.m.

Christine Dawood said she was impressed with the professionalism of those on deck.

“It was like a well-oiled operation — you could tell they’d done this many times before,” she said.

Suleman and Shahzada brought their OceanGate flight suits, as well as waterproof pants, an orange waterproof jacket, steel-toed boots, life jackets and helmets.

They stopped to be weighed as required and posed for a photo.

“I look rather fat,” Shahzada said. “I’m already cooking.”

Suleman descended the stairs to board the motorized raft that would take the passengers to the floating platform on which Titan was tied.

Shahzada found it less easy to get to the platform.

“He needed an extra hand to go down the stairs in all this gear because the boots were very clumsy,” she said.

“And Alina and I were like, ‘Oh, God, I hope he doesn’t fall in the water.’

All five climbed into the submarine and divers closed the hatch. Someone with a ratchet tightened all the bolts.

Crews maneuvered the Titan underwater and released it from the platform.

“It was a good morning,” she said.

Later that morning, Christine Dawood heard someone say that communications with Titan had been lost.

She went to the bridge, where a team had been monitoring the descent, and was told not to worry as communications could be unreliable.

She was told that if there was a problem, the mission would be aborted and the submarine would drop the weights on board and rise to the surface.

Someone then told her that they didn’t know where the Titan was.

“I also looked out over the ocean, in case I might see them pop up,” she said.

She was aboard the mothership when news arrived five days later that the submarine’s debris had been found.